Pythons and tigers and dugites, oh my: a day in the life of a Great Southern snake charmer

When Lea McCall lost her family dog to a snake bite, she was devastated - so she decided to learn as much as possible about the reptile that killed her beloved pet.

Fast forward a few years, and Lea is now Albany's resident snake catcher, receiving up to 15 calls per week from residents around the Great Southern region who want snakes removed from their properties.

Lea has grown to love snakes, and the walls of her lounge room are adorned with glass enclosures filled with non-venomous snakes and native lizards.

Instead of a television or a gaming system, Lea's family room is filled with reptiles that she refers to as "cute and cuddly,"- though she knows that others may not feel the same way.

Lea's children are completely comfortable with their cold-blooded pets, and it is both disconcerting and soothing to see them wandering through the house with pythons draped across their shoulders.

Almost one hundred people hold the title of snake catcher in Western Australia, each fully trained and licensed, and all only working for small donations.

Snakes tend to make themselves known in the hotter months of the year, and that is when Lea receives the most calls.

"People are usually terrified," she says. "There's always a sense of urgency and the size of the snake can grow with people's fear. So I'm getting callouts for eight foot tigers [snakes], and things that just don't exist."

Lea takes her snake-catching gear; a large bag fashioned onto the end of a tennis racket to create a net, and a few long implements with hooks on the end - and makes a beeline for a property whenever she gets the call, often bringing her kids along for the ride.

Her process is fairly standard: locate the snake, ensure that residents and pets are a safe distance from the action, hook the snake and coax it into the bag, then relocate it somewhere safe.

"Snakes are quite territorial, so they'll often return to the area where I've caught them from if I don't take them far enough away," explains Lea.

The scaly reptiles are often thought of as predatory and threatening, with nature documentaries often profiling them as ready to strike at any moment. But, if you ask Lea, that's all just for show.

"I don't like to say any snakes are aggressive - more actively defensive. So sometimes they can be a little bit more spirited as you try to remove them," she says. "They don't understand that you're trying to do what's right for them, so it's just about trying to keep everyone safe without hurting the snake."

Snakes are unlikely to become aggressive unless a human tries to harm them, with eighty per cent of bites occurring when someone tries to hurt or kill a snake.

"Snakes are protected, and we all live down here because we want to be part of nature. Well, snakes are part of nature," says Lea. "If you really have a problem, and you don't want that snake there, call up and get it removed."

Lea aims to educate people about snakes in the hope of reducing the fear and stigma surrounding them. Her pythons often go on the road with her to shows, community events, and children's birthday parties, posing for photos and being part of show and tell.

Watching Lea with olive python Oliver, as she drapes him around her neck and gives him a snuggle, it's easy to forget that he is a four metre long snake. "They all deserve a place in my family, the way other people have dogs and cats - I have reptiles."